Iraq and Lebanon Expressed Interest To Join Astana Process

04.03.2019 11:16

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Iraq and Lebanon have shown interest to be part of the Astana Process to find solutions to bring peace in their neighboring country, Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the participation of the two countries would help all the discussion members reach an efficient agreement as both countries have common borders and various relationships with Syria.

Many prominent political experts have expressed their support for the further development of the Astana Process as the negotiations held in Kazakhstan has yielded positive results.

The Center for Middle East Strategic Studies visiting scholar, Abas Aslani said the discussions on peace restoration in Syria has started long time ago and Astana’s efforts aimed at settling the military conflict in Syria proved to be effective and timely.

“The Astana Process proved to be a productive and competent platform and continues to show positive results,” he said, adding that the Geneva Peace Talks were not successful.

Geneva Peace Talks was organized by the United Nations in 2017 as a negotiation platform between the Syrian Government and the Syrian opposition. Both parties did not meet for face-to-face negotiations.

Meanwhile, the Astana Process is also a discussion platform to find peace solutions to Syria but with key members Russia, Iran and Turkey. Iran is also a member of the discussion.

Among the solutions discussed were de-escalation zones in Syria, humanitarian efforts and coordinate steps to resolve the crisis in Syria.

Kazakhstan has offered Astana to become the location for the peace talks. The first negotiation event was held in January 2017. Astana has hosted 11 rounds of talks.